For Lent this year, I'm reading the Church Fathers, using a plan that has me reading 10-15 minutes a day, covering 10 Fathers during the 40 day period. I've never read the Church Fathers before and am looking forward to learning more about my Christian heritage through these readings. I'll be rambling here throughout the season with my thoughts about what I read. Since so much of this is new to me, I won't be surprised if I miss some things or get some things wrong. Feel free to correct me in the comments.

Today was Didache. The reading seems to be a general list of instructions teaching basic tenets of the faith. Most of the writing ties the teaching to the 10 Commandments. All in all, I found this to be a good introduction for the readings I'll be doing this season.

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I remember doing this some years ago [when I was at TIAA-CREF, so it was sometime 2003 - 2008].

You don't necessarily need the historical context of the readings to get something out them, but it can help. Think of Paul's letters -- what he has to write has eternal truths available to all, but each letter was directed to a specific audience for a specific reason. Knowing what was going on in Corinth at the time, for example, can give you better understanding Paul's letters to the Corinthians.

In the case of the Didache [think "didactic" ... or something for teaching purpose], remember that the earliest Church were all Jews. So they knew stuff like the 10 Commandments, the Old Testament, etc. They didn't need to be explicitly taught what came before, because they grew up in that tradition. They needed teaching as to how Christ was the fulfillment of what they were taught growing up, but they didn't need to be taught who Moses was and what he did.

Of course, it didn't stay an all-Jewish group long [especially once Paul showed up]. In some places, the Church was mainly ex-pagans, and they needed to be taught the whole context.

This is awesome. I love this stuff, and I think all Christians should check out these documents, especially these pieces that are from the first few centuries of Church life.

I'm not sure who generated the plan you're using, but it's worth noting that "Church Fathers" is a designation that covers many centuries and many volumes of material. For the Orthodox, at least, there are still such Fathers in recent years, though I believe most Western sources regard the patristic period as ending sometime in the 12th century, having been replaced/superseded by Scholasticism.

Yeah, I know "Church Fathers" is bigger than this plan has me reading. I saw, e.g., that they have a link to a 38-volume set. The Bible software that I use at home (Accordance, the absolute best Bible software I've ever seen) has a module called "Apostolic Fathers" that appears to contain everything in the reading plan I'm using, as well as some others.

Prior to engaging in this effort, I've glanced at some early writing, but never delved in deeply.

I figured you knew. :) (But you can't blame a preacher for playing to the whole reading audience!)

The designation "Apostolic Fathers" is a subset of stuff from the first few centuries. I think it's also some of the most accessible, coming as it does almost from the feet of the Apostles themselves (in some cases, it's closer than "almost"). I'm especially a fan of St. Ignatius, who lends his name as the first of my son's two middle names.

Hey Greg, I also decided to do a major Lenten reading this year. I'm reading the entire book of Luke... in Greek. I read Luke 1:1-38 yesterday, and 1:39-66 today. Yesterday's reading took a little over 2 hours (for 38 verses!) and today's took right around an hour. It's going to be a fun 40 days. Good luck with your reading, too. :-)